Galen Town

Galen Town Hall is located at 6 South Park Street, Clyde, NY 14433; phone: 315-923-7259.

Beginnings [1]

The Town of Galen was organized by a division of Junius, in Seneca County, February 14, 1812; on the 11th of April, 1823, it became a part of Wayne County; on November 24, 1824, Savannah was set off. The Clyde River flows through the town. The Erie Canal passes through Galen.

The first permanent white settler was Laomi Beadle, who located on land which his father, Thomas Beadle, of Junius, owned at Marengo, in 1800. He built the first log house in Galen, planted the first orchard, and on the little stream at that point he erected the first saw mill. In 1801 the families of David Godfrey, Nicholas King, and Isaac Mills, consisting of 33 people, settled here. Dr. James Young, the brother of Mrs. King's mother and a surgeon of the Revolution at Albany, drew military lots and offered 100 acres to his nephew if he would settle on it.

These settlers were followed in 1803 by David Craeger and J. King from Maryland. Mr. Craeger built a log house in the northwest corner of Galen, which became the oldest of its kind in the town. He was a veterinary surgeon and one of the town's first assessors. In 1804 Captain John Sherman, Elias Austin, Mr. Payne and Jabez Reynolds came to Galen. Jabez Reynolds and Polly, daughter of Isaac Mills, were married in 1805, the first marriage in the town.

Among the settlers of 1805 were Asaph Whittlesley, William Foreman, a Mr. Rich, Salem Ford, Isaac Beadle, and Aaron Ford.